The Price
by Sam285
Summary: It has been five years since Jazz Curtis left Summer Bay and now she has returned, heavily pregnant and having left her husband. How will Drew and Tony react and does Jazz have a future in Summer Bay?
1. What are you doing back here?

I haven't written any non-Blue Heelers fanfiction for almost three years and haven't made any attempts at a Home and Away fic since about 2004. However, this idea just struck me and refused to leave me alone, so I figured I'd have to write it. Any and all feedback is really appreciated, especially given that this isn't the sort of fic I'd normally write.

I hope you enjoy the story.

**Chapter 1: "What are you doing back here?"**

The warm summer morning was making Tony feel awfully sleepy. He hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night, not with the eerie sounds of the empty house. He couldn't quite get used to being an empty-nester. After more than twenty years of enjoying the company of his sons and almost-step-daughter, the silence was disconcerting. As he wandered towards the gym, bag pulled over one shoulder; he decided that a nice hot coffee might be in order. In any case, some human interaction would be comforting, even if it was only Colleen.

He slipped into the diner, not stopping to survey the morning crowd. Waiting expectantly at the counter was Leah, whose face seemed to instantly brighten at his presence. She leant forward, not bothering to let him order. "Let me guess," she began with a chuckle, "white with one?"

Tony returned her laugh as he dug through his bag for his new leather wallet – the one Jack had given him for his birthday last month. "However did you guess?" he replied, looking away as Leah headed back to the kitchens. He was so preoccupied with his wallet search that he failed to notice the woman approaching him until it was too late to find a way to duck outside again.

"Tony?"

His head snapped up, his eyes wide with recognition. He knew that voice well. Even after five years, he'd know it anywhere. He almost fell backwards against the counter in shock as he looked the woman over, taking in every aspect of her appearance. She had long, fine dark hair drawn back into a rushed ponytail and a slender frame. The only thing in fact that had changed about her at all was the large bulge at her stomach. Extremely large, in fact. She looked just about ready to pop.

"Jazz…" he breathed, frozen in disbelief at what he was seeing. Almost as though she had realised what it was that distracted him, Jazz quickly raised her large black handbag to her stomach, hugging it to her body. The shock wore off relatively quickly, however, as Tony reached out, combing at a strand of her hair distractedly. It was still as he remembered it – soft and silky to touch. "What are you doing back here? It's been so long…"

She nodded, apparently not willing to answer Tony's question. Much to her delight, Leah returned to interrupt the situation before Tony had another chance to probe into her reappearance.

"Ah, Tony," Leah began, tapping the counter nervously. "Your, ah, coffee…"

He spun back to the counter, feigning a smile as he took the coffee, only to remember that he had never really found his wallet. Jazz leapt forward, quickly retrieving a five dollar note from the pocket of her pale blue maternity blouse. "It's on me," she told him as he offered it to Leah, who took it with raised eyebrows. With this, Jazz turned to head back to a discrete corner of the diner, sitting back in the chair as she winced with discomfort.

Tony watched her go, only to turn back to Leah to stare at her in disbelief. "What's she doing back here?" he demanded, pointing to Jazz with his eyes. "I thought she wasn't going to be coming back after Drew drove her away."

Leah simply shrugged as she placed the money in the till and retrieved Jazz's change. "I don't know, she was waiting here when I opened up this morning. I couldn't very well tell her to go. She hasn't ordered anything though, nothing other than that coffee of yours."

"Does Drew know she's here?" Tony asked, suddenly finding himself worried, more for Jazz's sake than Drew's.

"For her sake, I hope not," Leah replied before disappearing from view. Tony let a heavy sigh escape his lips as he looked back over his shoulder to Jazz. It seemed almost ironic that she'd choose to return just as his life was looking emptier than ever before.

* * *

Tiny Laura squirmed in Drew's arms as he desperately tried to keep up with Belle as she argued angrily with someone on the other end of her mobile phone. She was at least a couple of metres ahead of him as they headed towards the diner, wearing a neat black pants suit with her cropped red hair held back with a simple black head band.

It was times like these that Drew wondered how their marriage had survived to that point. It was almost like there were three people in their relationship – Drew, Belle and Belle's boss. She was still working with the local paper and was now a well-recognised and respected photographer. It was her dream job – except for the boss who couldn't take no for an answer. Belle had only been back from maternity leave for all for three weeks and was already running all over the district, trying to be in three places at once.

As soon as she had finished her argument and stuffed the phone back in her pocket, Drew called out to her. "Taylor! Taylor, slow down! I can't keep up and Laura wants her mum!"

Belle stopped instantly at the sound of her old nickname, spinning back to face her husband. She took Laura from Drew's arms, wrapping her spare arm around his neck as she kissed his cheek delicately. "I'm sorry, Drew," she apologised quickly. "It's just…you know what he's like. He wants those photographs from the hotel protest today or he'll have my head on a platter."

"Yeah, I know," Drew replied, cupping Belle's cheek in his hand. "But just remember us little people while you're racing around being the illustrious photographer extraordinaire Belle Taylor-Curtis." He chuckled as he kissed her passionately, only to pause in sudden thought. He pulled away, staring at Belle in disbelief. "I still can't believe Irene gave that development the go-ahead anyway, I mean, I thought she became mayor to stop that kind of stuff."

She chuckled as she continued to walk on towards the diner, this time at a much slower pace that both Drew and Laura were happier with. "Neither can I," she agreed with a sigh. "I guess politics is just like trying to have a career and a family – give and take."

"Yeah," Drew mumbled in an annoyed voice. "You give, he takes."

"Drew!" Belle exclaimed, spinning back to face him with a bright smile on her face. She grabbed his hand, beginning to drag him the last few metres to the diner. "Come on! Let's just eat breakfast so I can get to work and you can drop Laura off at day-care before heading over to the bar."

* * *

Drew ushered Belle and Laura inside the diner, quickly casting his gaze around for an empty table. He didn't find one. Instead, he found the one person he had hoped to never see again – his mother. Furthermore, she was sitting with Tony, having what appeared to be a rather stilted conversation with him. It seemed she had seen him at the same time that he saw her, as her weak smile quickly vanished from her face. "Drew."

She rose to her feet as he approached her, allowing him to see her very large baby bump for the first time. He knew from his experience with Belle that Jazz must be somewhere very close to her due date. "What are you doing back here?!" he demanded harshly.

"I left my husband up in Sydney," she explained hurriedly, turning almost pale at the mention of her new partner. She looked for some way of changing the topic and quickly found one in the baby girl in Belle's arms. "That must be my granddaughter," she observed in awe. "Tony told me about her. She's very beautiful."

"I thought we agreed that you'd stay out of my life if I gave you the rest of the inheritance," Drew continued, almost as though Laura had never been mentioned. Behind him, however, Belle's lips began to contort into a smile at the mention of her daughter. "Five years of nothing and then you think you can just run out of another husband and come crawling back to me…"

Jazz began shaking her head desperately, her eyes watering with tears. It was then that Tony – still sitting opposite Jazz – noticed that she hadn't bothered applying any make-up. He'd never seen her without make-up on before, but he had to admit that she still looked just as beautiful. "It's not like that Drew…" she pleaded, but she didn't get a chance to finish.

"I don't want you bringing your toxic influence into Laura's life, got it?" Drew finished, spinning to leave. "Come on, Belle," he mumbled as he went, "I don't really feel like eating, anyway."

Belle hesitated, holding her little girl closer to her chest. She felt sorry for Jazz somehow. She approached the older woman slowly, offering Laura to her gently. "Did you want a hold…" she began, only to be interrupted by Drew calling her name loudly from outside the diner. She apologised hurried as she scampered out after her husband, taking little Laura with her.

Jazz's tears grew larger and more painful as she watched her daughter-in-law leave. She wrapped a protective arm around her own unborn child as she sat down again, flopping forward over the table as she buried her face in her hands.

This was another brilliant disaster.


	2. I don't know what I'm going to do

**Chapter 2: "I don't know what I'm going to do."**

Tony invited Jazz inside, holding the door open for her as she slipped through into the living room of his house. A grateful smile crept across her face as she looked around, a kind of serenity passing through her body at the thought of being somewhere familiar with someone who seemed to care. "It's a little messy," Tony explained hurriedly as he kicked an empty pizza box underneath the couch. "I'm on my own at the moment, so…"

"It's fine," Jazz interrupted as she wandered off to the mantelpiece to survey the long line of photographs sitting on it. She didn't recognise most of them. They were largely pictures of Tony's two sons - a couple of Lucas graduating from high school, a wedding picture featuring Jack, an image of Jack with a baby, a photo of Lucas with a book that he'd clearly written…it seemed to be almost endless. "It's perfect."

He headed into the kitchen, busying himself with a coffee jar. "Leah said you hadn't eaten," he explained, calling out to her in a loud voice. "Do you want some coffee? Maybe some toast or something…" He paused mid-sentence, suddenly realising that Jazz wasn't listening. He returned to the living room, finding her sitting back in the couch as she contemplated her stomach. "Is something wrong?"

"What's Drew doing now?" she asked him, appealing to Tony with her shining emerald eyes. "I've spent every sleepless night of the last five years wondering what he's doing with himself…he didn't have the apprenticeship or the inheritance…"

Tony joined her slowly, reaching out to rub her knee soothingly. "He owns half of Noah's Bar these days," he explained, sighing thoughtfully. "Alf Stewart died a few years ago, so Drew owns half of it while Martha McKenzie owns the other half. He's doing well with it too. Maybe not making as much as Belle with her photography job at the paper, but he's happy."

She nodded, adjusting her position against the couch cushions so that she was sitting cross-legged. "And what about your boys?" she asked quietly. "How are Jack and Lucas going?"

He chuckled lightly for a moment before replying. "Jack married Sam a little while ago. He's got a teenage stepson and a three-year-old boy of his own. They named him Lucas, after his uncle."

"Cute," Jazz observed weakly, returning Tony's smile. The mention of Lucas' name seemed to make Tony downtrodden, almost to the point of tears. "What about Lucas? He was writing that book, wasn't he? About the girl killed in that drag race…"

"He did," Tony answered, lacing his fingers behind his head as he leant back to contemplate the ceiling. "He won a few awards for it too. It was critically acclaimed at one point. He died about a year after it was published, a couple of months before Jack's son was born. Car crash. Ironic, don't you think?"

Her face fell quickly as she reached out to rub his shoulder reassuringly. "Oh, Tony…" she whispered, shaking her head dismally. "I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be," he told her, laughing bleakly. "It's not your fault. Anyway, I've been an empty-nester since. Matilda left ages ago; she's over in Perth at uni. She wanted to come back after Lucas died, but I told her not to. He wouldn't have wanted her throwing away her career to come running back to keep me company." He sighed, deciding that it would be best to change the subject. "What about you, eh?" he asked, letting a small smile spread across his face. "The baby's got to be due soon."

"Yeah," Jazz replied, placing a hand on her stomach as a kind of downtrodden hope found its way into her face. "I don't know what I'm going to do. I used the last of my money to pay for the taxi fare down here and to pay for your coffee."

Tony suddenly found himself feeling incredibly guilty for letting her pay. He blushed slightly as he rose to his feet. "You're more than welcome to stay here, if you'd like," he offered with a smile. "I mean, I've got that many spare rooms…"

"I can't impose," Jazz told him, wincing as she rose to her feet. "I mean, Drew still hates me. Not that I could blame him. You don't deserve to have to worry about me."

"No," Tony pointed out, grabbing Jazz's shoulders and steering her off to Matilda's old bedroom. "I insist. I can't have you sleeping in a caravan, can I now?"

She smiled gratefully in response as she entered Matilda's old room, looking around her. It looked fairly nice, with creamy white walls and soft grey carpet. The bed looked particularly inviting. She spun back to face Tony, offering him a gentle smile. "Look, forget the coffee and toast. I might just have a lie down, if that's alright with you."

Tony nodded, squeezing her hand kindly. "Of course it is," he replied with a smile. "You relax; I'll just be out in the living room if you need me."

Jazz eased herself back onto the bed, lying on her back as she ran a thoughtful hand over her stomach. She offered Tony one more smile of gratitude before he left the room, closing the door silently behind him.

* * *

Martha's head snapped up from where she was checking the money in the till as Drew entered, each footstep heavier than the one before. She rose an eyebrow as she leant back against the side of the bar, regarding him in curiosity. "Laura keeping you up again, was she?" she asked with a chuckle which hid a little bit of regret. Despite her blossoming relationship with Michael, she still felt the pain over the child she had terminated years before. At the lack of reply from Drew, she decided to probe again. "Or has Belle got another big newspaper assignment that she's stressing about?"

"It's not Laura and it's not Belle," Drew finally grumbled, dropping his bag to the floor behind the bar. "My bloody mother's back in town."

"What, Jazz?" Martha queried as she pushed the till closed with a loud ping. "I thought you'd both agreed to live separate lives as long as you sent her the inheritance…"

He sighed, folding his arms across his chest impatiently. "Yeah, well so did I. But Belle and I ran into her at the diner this morning, heavily pregnant after leaving yet another husband AND she was chatting to Tony."

Martha rolled her eyes, feeling a little frustrated. Drew was a pretty good business partner for the most part, except for whenever his mother was mentioned. She didn't blame him for feeling betrayed about the inheritance debacle, but his anger was honestly beginning to feel quite unwarranted. "She may not be necessarily up to her old tricks, you know," she reminded him calmly. "She might have a good reason for leaving her husband. Not everyone who gets a divorce is doing it because they're trying to be vindictive."

Drew paused, meeting Martha's gaze for the first time. He could tell that she was really not in the mood for this now. "I'll go get set up for the pool tournament today, then shall I?" she asked, earning a curt nod from Martha.

"Yeah, that might be best," she replied. She shook her head despairingly as she watched him walk away before turning back to stare longingly at the photograph of her grandfather that sat behind the counter. "Give me strength, Grandad," she whispered in a kind of silent prayer before continuing with the process of setting up for the day.

* * *

Tony sat back at the circular dining table, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he breezed through that day's paper. It was mainly full of news stories about the controversy surrounding the hotel development. It had been the talk of the town for at least three months now. It had been a council decision, but it was Irene who was feeling the worst of it, just because she was mayor. But Tony knew that if anyone had bothered to attend the council meeting, as he had, then they'd know that Irene had voted against the development, but had been outnumbered.

He gave up on the supposed real news and flipped through to the classroom pages. Both Cassie Turner and Sally Fletcher had received awards for excellence in education, which brought a smile to his face. He'd have to remember to ring Matilda that night and let her know.

Suddenly, the peace was disturbed when he could hear a distressed female's voice crying out for help. The memory of where Jazz was hit him almost like a bolt of lightning and sent him racing into the bedroom, where he found her lying on Matilda's old bed. She was curled up into a ball, batting at the air as she continued to cry. He was about to call an ambulance until he realised that she was actually asleep.

"No…Jacob, please…" Jazz moaned, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please…what about the baby…please…"

Tony's eyes widened as Jazz continued to plead with this 'Jacob', begging for mercy. As she began to scream and recoil in what appeared to be pain, he decided that he'd heard all he needed to hear. He grabbed her shoulder gently, shaking it as violently as he dared to. "Jazz, Jazz!" he called. "Wake up!"

She jerked awake, trying to bat Tony away in her half-asleep daze. It took a few more seconds for her to truly become aware of her surroundings. Once she had, her face grew red with embarrassment and fear. "Oh, Tony…" she breathed, brushing at her hair with her hand. "I'm sorry…I must have been sleep-talking…I do it a bit according to my husband…"

"His name wouldn't happen to be Jacob, would it?" Tony asked kindly as he crouched down on the floor beside Jazz's bed, surveying her worriedly. She stared at him wide-eyed, but he didn't give her a chance to try to say no. "You were yelling at him in your sleep, you were begging him not to hurt you."

"Well, yes," Jazz finally replied, her face almost contorting with the strain of lying to Tony. "His name is Jacob, but he's never hurt me. It must have just been a nightmare…"

She rose to her feet to try to leave, only for Tony to beat her to the door. He grabbed her wrist in an attempt to stop her, only to find that she flinched from fear under his touch. "He's been hitting you," he told her, his voice high-pitched in disbelief. "That's why you ran away from him. That's why you're back in Summer Bay."

"Yes, alright!" Jazz admitted, her tears becoming fiercer. "Jacob's been hitting me almost since the day we got married. Happy now?"

And with those words still echoing through Tony's head, Jazz stormed off to the bathroom, leaving him alone with his worries.


	3. Are you sure?

**Chapter 3: "Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"**

Tony slumped back into the couch, digging around through the pile of cushions for the remote control. He eventually found it and began flipping through the TV channels, barely staying on any of them long enough to discern what was on. Like his own problems, it hardly seemed to matter in comparison to what Jazz was facing. He felt almost guilty for breaking things off with her five years ago. If he hadn't, maybe she wouldn't have felt so compelled to take Drew's offer and leave.

She was sleeping more peacefully now. He hadn't heard her screaming for a couple of hours, which meant she was resting. He sank back further into the couch as he gave up on the TV providing any kind of distraction and switched it off, tossing the remote over to the other end of the couch. In hindsight, it was no wonder he kept losing the thing.

"Hey, Dad, are you in there?"

Tony's jumped to his feet in surprise at the sound of Jack's voice calling to him from the front door. He approached it as Jack invited himself inside, closing the door silently behind him. He was wearing his police uniform, complete with his brand new Senior Constable hooks, and frowning at his father worriedly. "Martha just called me," he explained in a hushed voice. "She said that Drew's mother was back in town, that you were talking to her at the diner this morning."

Tony chuckled as he ushered Jack back outside, pressing a finger to his lips in a silent indication for Jack to lower his voice even further. "Would you mind keeping it down, Jack?" he asked in a whisper as he waved back towards the house. "I think Jazz is sleeping. She had a pretty nasty nightmare earlier which upset her."

"Martha said she'd left her husband," Jack pointed out, folding his arms across his chest. He just seemed to exude a cop atmosphere which Tony recognised well. It was almost stifling at times, but he'd never tell his son that. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing in getting involved with her again, Dad?"

"I don't need your relationship advice, mate," Tony reminded him in an almost reprimanding voice. "She's about to have a baby any day now, she hasn't got a cent to her name and she's just run away from an abusive husband…"

"Whoa, hold on there!" Jack snapped, momentarily forgetting what his father had told him and raising his voice. "Martha didn't say anything about an abusive husband!"

Tony leapt forward, pushing Jack away from the house as he pressed a finger to his lips. "Will you keep your voice down?" he reminded him in a harsh whisper. "She was yelling in her sleep, pleading with some guy called Jacob to stop hurting her. She told me that he's her husband and that he's been hitting her since they got married."

Jack paused, regarding Tony with a raised eyebrow. "You're in dangerous territory, Dad," he warned solemnly. "I've seen it before – nice guys just like you who think they're doing the right thing by looking after battered women like Jazz who end up being killed for it…"

"What do you propose I do, then?" Tony hissed in reply. "Sent her out on the streets? Let her go into labour in one of Sally's caravans? Come on, Jack. She's got absolutely nothing. Even Drew doesn't want to know."

Jack began shaking his head in concern, before finally leaning in closer to his father. "Alright, alright," he conceded quietly. "If you can get Jazz to make a statement, then we can get the Sydney coppers to pick this Jacob guy up and she can take an AVO out against him. Otherwise, there's not a lot else that anyone can do." He sighed, reaching out to clap his father on the shoulder encouragingly. "Be careful, Dad."

As soon as Jack had left and the police car had pulled out of the drive-way, Jazz emerged from inside, her right arm wrapped protectively around her bump. She stared at Tony blankly for a few seconds, before finally daring to speak. "You told Jack, didn't you?"

He watched as Jazz stormed back inside and grabbed her handbag. He almost had to tackle her to the lounge to stop her from leaving then and there. "Jack's a really well-respected policeman in this area," Tony told her soothingly. "If there is anyone who can help you out of this, it's Jack."

"Tony…" Jazz moaned, shaking her head slowly and deliberately. "He'll come after me if he thinks that I've told anyone. He'll kill me, and probably you as well."

She fixed Tony with a kind of vulnerable, frightened stare that made him want to immediately throw on a suit of armour and become her protective knight. He held her hands within his own, contemplating the situation slowly. "They can put him in jail, Jazz. All you've got to do is tell Jack what he did to you. Jacob won't hurt you while I'm around. I'll look after you and the baby."

"That's sweet," she told him, a genuine smile spreading across her face. "I mean it; it really is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me before. But you don't know Jacob. I just wanted to come back to Summer Bay and hide here and be closer to you and Drew. I'm not putting your lives in danger."

"Jazz, please," Tony begged, his eyes watering with desperation. "You don't have to do this alone. You've got me and Jack will look after you too. It would mean so much to me."

The pleading in his eyes finally got the better of Jazz. She nodded, a cautious smile mixed with terror playing tentatively upon her lips. "Okay," she replied, squeezing Tony's hand back. "I'll do it."

* * *

Jazz felt uneasy in the interview room of the Yabbie Creek Police Station. Almost as though it could sense her nervousness, the baby in her stomach was kicking her with a vengeance she had never felt before. The only thing that kept her from leaving then and there was Tony's hand closed around her own.

Jack sat across from the pair, leaning forward over the desk while his colleague, Lara Fitzgerald, sat beside him. "How did you meet Jacob Ferguson?" Jack asked tentatively, his voice soft and bearing a kind of sympathy that it rarely had before.

"Just before I left Summer Bay five years ago," Jazz explained, staring off at a point in the distance as her mind drifted back. She began to rub her stomach thoughtfully as each kick sent stabbing pains through her body, "I'd decided to reinvent myself. And I did. I used the inheritance to buy myself a little flat and I went back to TAFE and studied food preparation. I was quite the chef." She paused, a hint of a proud smile creeping across her face. "I met Jacob by accident. He was smart and funny and filthy rich. He had me sucked right in."

Jack nodded understandingly, glancing back to Fitzy and watching as she made scribbled notes in her blue police notebook. "When did the violence start?" he probed again.

She closed her eyes tightly, letting out a heavy sigh of frustration. She didn't want to be there anymore. She was wondering why on earth she'd ever agreed to this stupid idea of Tony's. But just the touch of his skin of hers was enough to keep her grounded. "He asked me to marry him. And I did. Big mistake number one. He asked me to give up my job as a chef at a local restaurant. And I did. Big mistake number two. Then one day we were arguing. He wanted to buy some expensive car, saying that he couldn't possibly live without it. I told him that it didn't matter." She shook her head thoughtfully. "When you've lost everything you own, haven't got a cent to your name and have nearly been burned to death in your own home…well, expensive Mercedes don't really tend to rate very highly. So he hit me."

"Where?" Jack asked, his eyes beginning to fill with tears of sympathy. "How badly were you hurt?"

"My cheek at first," Jazz explained, raising a hand to it almost as though it still hurt years later. "Then he really laid into me. My shoulders, my arms…anything he could reach really. It was just bruises, but…I nearly left. I very nearly walked out the door that night, but I had nothing. All the money I had was now in his bank account and I had no house and no job. I had to stay. He started hitting me more often after that. Sometimes it'd be because I disagreed with him; sometimes he was angry about work…sometimes he'd just be bored and need something to do. He didn't even stop when I told him I was pregnant."

She looked up to Tony, almost one hundred percent certain that she had heard him swear under his breath at this, threatening to rip Jacob's 'bloody arms off'. Jack cleared his throat loudly at this – his slightly unsubtle way of silencing his father. As soon as Tony had muttered an apology under his breath, Jack turned back to Jazz. "What prompted you to leave him now?"

"I stayed through most of the pregnancy," she continued softly. "I'd pretty much had to bring up Drew with absolutely nothing and I didn't want to do the same thing with this one. But last night…we were arguing while I was cooking dinner. He picked up the knife I was using to prepare the vegetables and…and he tried to stab me in the stomach with it. I managed to knock him out with the chopping board and I just grabbed my handbag and bolted. He'd tried to kill the baby. Before it had just been hitting me around the head a bit. But last night, he really tried to kill my baby and I couldn't let him do that…"

She trailed off, a sudden pain shooting through her body. She let out a loud groan, leaning forward as she grasped at her stomach. She almost blacked out in agony as the pain came again, sending her crashing to the floor. Tony leapt to his feet, crouching at her side. He rubbed her arm encouragingly as he glanced back over his shoulder to Jack and Fitzy, who were now on their feet and checking Jazz over.

"Her waters have broken," Jack called, grabbing Fitzy's shoulder. "Get on the phone to the hospital; let Rachel know that we've got a heavily pregnant woman in labour."


	4. You'll be a great mum

**Chapter 4: "You'll be a great mum."**

Tony paced the hospital corridor, his hands curled up into fists in the pockets of his shorts as he waited impatiently for news. They'd taken Jazz through to a hospital room, saying nothing more than that she was definitely in labour. He'd wanted to go with her. He'd promised to look after her and her child and he wanted to be there, but Rachel had told him that it simply wasn't possible. He wasn't her husband, he wasn't the baby's father – it was as simple as that. So he had to content himself with waiting outside, listening to Jazz's cries of pain.

"You shouldn't be worried, you know. This is just about the most natural thing in the world."

He spun to face the source of the soft, female voice, finding himself face-to-face with his daughter-in-law, Sam. She was wearing her favourite purple polo top and a pair of old, faded jeans and leaning back against the wall of the corridor, her arms folded across her chest. Even her eyes seemed to smile at him from beyond her wild, vivacious curls.

He chuckled half-heartedly as he finally stopped pacing and flopped back into a nearby hospital chair. "Yeah, I know," he conceded, offering her a weak smile. "It's just…"

"You love her and you always have and you've missed her over the last five years?" Sam finished, giggling at the stunned look on Tony's face. "Come on, don't you think Jack talks to me or something? He knows you better than anyone else on this planet and he knows that you've been hung up on Jazz Curtis ever since she left Summer Bay."

Tony found himself laughing at the look on Sam's face. He hadn't even begun to think about what his pining must have looked like to Jack or anyone else for that matter. He wouldn't have been surprised if half of Summer Bay had worked out that he was still in love with Jazz. It would certainly explain why Drew talked to him a lot less these days, if anything. "Yeah," he told Sam, unable to hold back a smile. "Maybe I do."

Tony had been so preoccupied with his conversation with Sam that he had been completely oblivious to the end of Jazz's screams until the hospital room door opened and Rachel Armstrong emerged, a grin spread across her face from ear to ear. He jumped to his feet, staring at her expectantly. "Is Jazz alright?" he demanded hurriedly. "Is the baby okay?"

"It was a textbook labour," Rachel told him, clapping him on the shoulder reassuringly. "It's a beautiful baby girl. You can go in and see them if you'd like." She shot him an encouraging wink before dragging Sam away to the nurse's counter, most likely for a gossiping session about the true nature of Tony and Jazz's friendship.

But Tony didn't care. He entered Jazz's room tentatively just as the last of the nurses left, smiling at the sight of her sitting up in bed. She was propped up with a large number of fluffy white pillows and wearing a horrible bleached hospital gown. Jazz offered him the brightest smile he had seen on her lips in days as she gazed down lovingly at the infant in her arms. She looked up to him as the child stirred in the baby pink blankets that she was wrapped in. "You can come over if you'd like," she told him with a tired chuckle. "She doesn't bite."

He approached the pair hesitantly, perching himself on the edge of Jazz's hospital bed as he looked at the child in her arms. He reached out, combing at the baby girl's fine dark hair. It was the exact same shade of dark brown as Jazz's and Drew's. "She's gorgeous, Jazz," he told her with a wide grin. "She's simply gorgeous."

"Isn't she?" Jazz replied as she looked down once again to her daughter. She stirred against Jazz's chest, her eyes closed tightly. Jazz watched as Tony reached out to the baby again and she closed her tiny fingers around his. "I think she likes you."

"I think she might," Tony agreed with a light chuckle. "Even Jack and Lucas screamed their heads off if I went anywhere near them when they were born."

Jazz laughed at Tony's comment, once again finding herself staring at her new baby daughter. "I think she needs a name," she told him quietly. "I was so busy trying to protect myself from Jacob that I completely forgot about thinking of a name."

"Well, how did you choose Drew's name?" Tony asked her, changing position so that he was now sitting cross-legged on the bed.

She sighed, tightening her grip on the baby slightly as she thought of her son, whose life she had so often ruined with what he had described as her 'toxic influence'. "Would you believe that I drew the name Andrew out of a hat?" she replied, sighing with regret. "I stuffed up everything with Drew…I mean, not telling Peter, off-siding everyone who could have helped me, putting myself before him…then trying to rip him off…I don't want to do that to her, Tony. I don't want to screw up her life like I screwed up mine. Or like I tried to screw up Drew's. I want to be a good mum this time. The one Drew should have had."

Tony nodded with understanding as he continued to stare at the little girl in Jazz's arms. "You'll be a great mum," he assured her softly. "You made mistakes with Drew, but you must have done something right. He's a great bloke, he's doing great work with Noah's Bar and his marriage with Belle is just about as stable as they come. You can't have screwed up too badly."

Jazz returned his smile as she returned to staring lovingly at her daughter. "I like the name Elsie," she told him softly. She looked up to him, staring inquiringly into his eyes. "What do you think?"

He nodded, his grin broadening. "Elsie Jacinta," he agreed as he once again began to let the child told hold of his finger. "I think that's a perfect name."

"You stupid bitch!"

Tony leapt off the bed in fright at the sound of shouting from the door, moving closer to Jazz's bedside as she recoiled in fright, holding baby Elsie closer to her chest. He surveyed the man standing in the doorway critically, not even needing to ask who he was. He was wearing a neat black suit with his cropped blonde hair gelled down onto his scalp. His steely grey eyes were absolutely livid.

"Jacob!" Jazz gasped, shaking her head in fright. "W…What are you doing here?"

Jacob was breathing heavily. Tony was half expecting to see steam coming out of his ears as he stood in the doorway to the hospital room. "What did you tell those pigs?"

Jazz's eyes narrowed in misunderstanding as she stared at him, continuing to shake her head. "Pigs?" she queried.

"The frigging cops, you stupid cow!" Jacob yelled, making a dive for her hospital bed.

Tony moved in front of him, using every bit of his considerable muscle to push Jacob back. "Easy, mate," he warned him calmly. "She's just had a baby; maybe you should give her a little space…"

He stepped back, regarding Tony doubtfully. "And who exactly the hell do you think you are?" he spat cruelly.

"Someone who loves your wife and daughter a heck of a lot more than you do," Tony retorted quickly. The comment was enough to infuriate Jacob as he dived for Jazz's hospital bed once again. Once again, Tony through himself into Jacob's path, grabbing his wrists roughly and struggling to move him as far away from Jazz as possible.

In the struggle, Jacob made a swing for Tony's face which collided, sending him crashing to the ground. Jacob straightened himself up, grinning broadly. "Stupid jerk," he mumbled as he turned back to Jazz. She looked absolutely distraught as she stared at Tony's form as he struggled to pick himself up off the floor.

"Tony!" she screamed, Elsie awaking in her arms and beginning to scream. "Tony!"

Almost as though the alarm in Jazz's voice was powering him, Tony leapt to his feet, grabbing Jacob from behind and managing to grab him in a headlock. Jacob was just about to break free when the door burst open and Jack and Fitzy entered, guns drawn.

"Police!" Jack roared, silencing Jazz and Elsie instantly and causing both Tony and Jacob to freeze mid-motion. "Don't move!"

Tony laughed in relief as he relinquished his grip on Jacob, allowing his son to take over. "Perfect timing, Jack," he observed, earning a poked out tongue from Jack in response. He backed away, watching as Jack and Fitzy dragged Jacob out of Jazz's hospital room and out towards the police car in the car park. He turned back to Jazz, offering her a weak smile of relief. "Didn't I tell you?" he told her as he sat back on the edge of her bed. "I'd look after you."


	5. She's got your eyes, Mum

**Chapter 5: "She's got your eyes, Mum."**

Martha was so busy scrubbing at a stain on one of the tables at Noah's Bar that she didn't even notice Tony Holden walk inside until he was tapping her on the shoulder to snatch her attention. She spun around, so surprised she almost attacked him. "Tony!" she gasped in relief at the sight of her one-time father-in-law. "You surprised me!"

"You look like you were off on another planet," he observed, arms folded across his chest.

She nodded, brushing at her hair thoughtfully as she headed back to the bar. "Yeah, I think I was," she agreed with a chuckle. "I was just thinking about dinner tonight. Michael's offered to take me over to this beautiful picnic spot on Geoff and Annie's farm and he's promised me a really romantic night…" She trailed off, finally noticing the way Tony was grinning at her. "And why are you grinning like a Cheshire cat, eh, Tony?" she asked, offering him a sly smile. "I haven't seen you so happy since you became a grandfather."

He ran a hand back through his hair nervously as he leant back against the bar. "Well, Jazz had the baby a little while ago," he explained, his hands trembling slightly with excitement. Little Elsie wasn't his, but it sure felt like it. "It's a baby girl."

"Oh my God!" Martha exclaimed, covering her mouth in surprise. "I mean, Drew said she was pregnant, but I didn't realise she'd actually have the baby this soon…" She paused, simply shaking her head. Like Tony, she really wasn't quite sure why the birth of Jazz's child excited her so much. It was almost as though it was Tony's child. "So Drew's got a baby sister?"

Tony nodded. "Yep," he continued. "Elsie Jacinta Curtis. She's an absolute cutie. I was ducking home to grab a camera for Jazz when she asked me to find Drew for her…is he here?"

Martha nodded off in the direction of the car park. "He's helping the delivery man with some unloading," she told him, smiling. "So, I take it you and Jazz are pretty close again?"

He nodded again, his smile becoming less of one of excitement and more of one of contentment. "Yeah, you could say that," he replied. "And that isn't going to be getting back to Jack from you, is it?"

"Oh, of course not!" Martha told him with a cheeky wink. "Why would I tell Jack?"

"Why would you tell Jack what?" Drew demanded as he returned to the bar, arms folded across his chest as he regarded Tony in contempt. "I heard my Mum's name. I can't believe you've been so gullible as to be sucked back in by her again."

Tony simply shook his head at Drew, shrugging helplessly. "She's not sucking me in, Drew," he pointed out calmly. "Jazz has changed. She really has. You don't understand half of what's going on here, mate."

"I understand more than you do, by the sounds of it," Drew retorted, while Martha kept switching her gaze between one and the other. "What's going on here is that history is repeating itself. She's gone and walked out on another marriage just because it suits her and come crawling back to us. Maybe she's even got another inheritance she wants to rip me off for…"

"Will you just shut up and listen to me for five minutes?" Tony demanded, raising his voice so much that a few people in the nearby pool room looked up. Realising that this situation was going to become very public very soon, Martha leapt forward, quickly closing the doors. She leant back against them, staring back at Tony in curiosity. "Your mother didn't just walk out on another marriage because it suited her – she ran away because she and her baby were nearly stabbed to death by her husband."

Drew's jaw suddenly dropped open so far that Tony wouldn't have been surprised if it hit the floor. "Stabbed?" he demanded.

Tony nodded, approaching Drew slowly. "She changed all of her old ways," he explained gently. "She went to TAFE, she got herself a good job, but even Jazz Curtis can make mistakes under the influence of love. Her husband hit her and yet she stayed because she felt like she couldn't even turn to you for help. It got so bad that last night, if she hadn't been able to knock him out with the chopping board, she would have died. That's why she's here, Drew."

"Oh, crap," Drew mumbled as he buried his face in his hands. He shook his head in disbelief as he began to peer through his fingers. "Where is she?"

"The hospital," Tony replied. "She went into labour while she was reporting her husband to Jack. He attacked her just then too. If I hadn't been there…"

Drew's eyes widened as he lowered his hands, staring at Tony solemnly. "Are they both okay?"

"They're both fine," Tony reassured Drew as his smile grew once again. "You've got a little baby sister. Her name's Elsie Jacinta. And she's the cutest little thing you've ever seen…except for maybe your Laura." He chuckled, before continuing. "She really wants to see you. And I think Elsie might want to meet you, too."

Drew nodding, going to follow Tony out to his car, before pausing. "Do you reckon we could stop off at the day-care centre on the way?" he asked quietly. "I think that there's someone Mum might want to meet too."

* * *

Jazz slowly opened her eyes at the sounds of footsteps approaching her hospital room. She quickly pushed herself up in alarm, almost preparing herself to snatch Elsie from the cot next to her bed and run, only to flop back in relief at the sight of Drew standing in the doorway, cradling a little girl in his arms while Tony waited just behind his shoulder. "Drew," she whispered, a weak smile spreading across her face. "You don't know how glad I am to see you."

"I think I might," he replied, crossing the room to her slowly. Jazz watched in curiosity as Drew perched himself on the edge of her bed, craning his neck to get a good look at Elsie as she slept in her cot. "My baby sister," he gasped in awe, his eyes watering with hot tears of joy and disbelief. "Tony told me about what happened…you were so brave for fighting against that bastard…"

"It wasn't bravery," she confessed quietly in a voice that was barely audible. "It was instinct. I would have done the same thing for you, if I'd had to." She began shaking her head, tears springing up in her eyes as she reached up to run her fingers along Drew's cheekbone. "I screwed up so badly…I still live with the guilt every day of the things I did to you. Everything that goes wrong in my life – the fire, Mum, Jacob – it's all my punishment. The price I paid for everything I did wrong to you."

Drew began shaking his head, surprised to find himself crying. He rarely cried – in fact, he hadn't since Lucas had been killed years ago. "No," he told her, supporting Laura with one hand as he reached out to take Jazz's hand with his other. "No. You didn't deserve any of that." He squeezed her hand tighter, finally earning a smile from his mother.

Jazz's face suddenly lit up as she reached over, slowly and gently cradling Elsie in her arms and offering her up to Drew. "Do you want to have a hold of your baby sister?" she asked in softly, in a voice that reminded Drew more of a child than anything else.

"Only if you agree to have a hold of your granddaughter," he told her with a chuckle. Carefully, Jazz and Drew swapped the babies over and Drew began to coo at Elsie. "You're a gorgeous little thing, aren't you?" he told Elsie, who slowly began to awake in his arms. She opened her eyes, exposing the brightest green that Drew had ever seen before in his life. "She's got your eyes, Mum."

Tony joined the group on the bed, craning his neck to get a good look at little Elsie's eyes. "So she does," he agreed, smiling up at Jazz, only to find that she wasn't paying any attention whatsoever. She was far too preoccupied with her little granddaughter in her arms.

"You were right, Tony," she whispered, her eyes wide in awe. "I can't have screwed up too badly after all."

* * *

Drew, cradling his baby daughter in his arms, bowed slightly to kiss Jazz sweetly on the cheek. The pair shared a smile, as Drew combed his fingers back through Jazz's fine dark hair. "I promise I'll be back tomorrow," he told her softly. "And I'll try to tear Belle away from the hotel protests, too. Then you can catch up with your daughter-in-law."

Jazz's smile grew as tears of joy continued to well in her eyes. She nodded tiredly. "I'd love that," she replied, before pausing momentarily. Finally, she dared to speak again. "I love you, Drew. I always have."

He nodded, smiling back at his mother one last time before leaving. "I love you too, Mum."

Tony watched as Drew left, grinning to himself. Beyond Jazz's hospital room, the sun was setting, signalling the end of the day for the residents of Summer Bay. They'd all be starting to head home now. He found it increasingly difficult to restrain laughter at the thought of how different his life was now to what it had been that morning when he had wandered into the diner, tired and lonely and missing the company of those he loved.

Jazz suddenly looked up to him as she set a sleeping Elsie back in her cot, her eyes glowing with the tiniest glint of hope. "You said something earlier," she began, watching as Tony snapped back to earth. He gave a mumble of interest as he sat down on the bed next to her, the pair so close now that their bodies were almost touching. "You said, and I quote, that you were 'someone who loves your wife and daughter a heck of a lot more than you do'…" she paused, staring at Tony intently. "What did you mean by that?"

He sighed, shrugging helplessly. "My life was miserable without you," he admitted gloomily. "I never wanted you to leave Summer Bay. There was something about you that I loved from the moment I saw you and…that woman is the one who I'm sitting next to right now."

She felt a smile playing on her lips as she reached up to cup Tony's chin in her hand. "Are you trying to tell me that you love me?"

"Ah, yes, I'm trying to tell you that I love you," he replied, chuckling with contentment. "Don't go, Jazz. I want this. I want you and I want Elsie and everything that comes along with it. I love you."

Jazz smiled, as Tony tenderly pressed his lips against hers. They remained that way for several minutes, until eventually they broke away. Their eyes connected and Jazz found the words playing on her tongue, just waiting to be said. "I love you too, Tony."


End file.
